GRAIX- WEEVIL. 



GRAIX-WEEVIL. 



stale, is," says Dr. Harris, * a 

 insect, between three and four-tenths of 

 an inch long from the head to the tip of its 

 wings, and expands six-tenths of an inch. It 

 hasa whitish tuft on its forehead; its long and 

 narrow wings eorer its back like a sloping 

 roof; are a little tamed np behind, and are 

 edged with a wide fringe. Its fore-wings are 

 glossy like sal in. and are marbled with~ white 

 or gray, light brown, and dark brown, or black- 

 ish spots, and there is always one dark, square 

 spot near the middle of the outer edge. Its 



appear in May, others in July and Au- 

 gust, at which times they lay their eggs ; for 

 there are two broods of them in the course of 



The young from the first laid 

 :o their growth and finish their 

 mations in six weeks or two moni 

 live through the winter, and turn to winged 

 moths in the following spring. The young 

 > do not burrow in to the grain, as has 

 by some writers, who seem to 

 have confounded them with the 

 grain-worms; hot, as soon as they are 

 they begin to gnaw the grain and cover them- 

 selves with the fragments, which they line with 



in size they 



together several grains with their webs, 

 to make a larger cavity, wherein they 



lire. 



After a while, becoming uneasy in their 

 ied habitations, they come out and wander 



over the grain, spinning their threads as they 

 go, tin they bare found a suitable place where- 



to make their cocoons. Thus, wheat, rye, 

 barley and oats, all of which they attack, will 

 be found full of lumps of grain cemented to- 

 gether by these corn-worms, as they are some- 

 times called; and when they are very nume- 

 rous the whole surface of the grain in the bin 

 will be covered with a thick crust of webs and 

 of adhering grains. These destructive corn- 

 worms are really soft and naked caterpil- 

 lars, of a cylindrical shape, tapering a little at 

 each end, and are provided with sixteen legs, 

 the first three pair of which are conical and 

 jointed, and the others fleshy and wan-like. 

 When fully grown, they measure four or five- 

 tenths of an inch in length, and are of a light 

 ochre or buff colour, with a reddish head. 

 When about six weeks old they leave the grain 

 and get into cracks, or around the sides of 

 corn-bins, and each one then makes itself a 

 little oval pod, or cocoon, about as large as a 

 grain of wheat. The insects of the first brood, 

 as before said, come out of their cocoons, in 

 the winged form, in July and August, and lay 

 their eggs for another brood: the others remain 

 unchanged in their cocoons through the winter, 

 and take the chrysalis form in March or April 

 folio win?. Three weeks afterwards, the shining 

 brown chrysalis forces itself part way out of 

 die cocoon, by the help of some tittle sharp 

 points on its tail, and bursts open at the other 

 end, so as to allow the moth therein confined to 

 BMM :" -:-.. 



The foregoing account, drawn from Euro- 

 authorities, wifl probably enable readers 



to determine whether these destructive in- 

 sects are found in the United States. From 

 various statements, deficient, however, in ex- 

 actness, that have appeared in some of our 

 agricultural journals, I am led to think that 

 this corn-moth, or an insect exactly like it 

 in its habits, prevails in all parts* of the 

 country, and that it has generally been mis- 

 taken for the grain-weevil, which it far sur- 

 passes in its devastations. Many years ago I 

 remember to have seen oats and shelled corn 

 (maize) affected in the way above described, 

 and have observed seed-corn, hanging in the 

 ears, to have been attacked by insects of this 

 kind, the empty chrysalids of which remained 

 sticking between the kernels; but, for some 

 time past, no opportunity for further investiga- 

 tion has offered itself." See CoKx-Mora. 



The most pernicious of what naturalists call 

 snoot-beetles (Rhynckopkoneau}, are the insects 

 properly called grain-weevils. These insects, 

 says Harris, must not be confounded with the 

 still more destructive larvae of the corn-moth 

 (Timta gnmefla), which also attacks stored 

 grain, nor with the orange-coloured maggots of 

 the wheat-fly (Cttidomyia TVifici), which are 

 found in the heads of growing wheat. 



Although the grain-weevils are not actually 

 injurious to vegetation, yet as the name pro- 

 perty belonging to them has often teen misap- 

 plied in the United States, thereby creating 

 no little confusion, some remarks upon them 

 may tend to prevent future mistakes. 



"The true grain-weevil or wheat-weevil of 

 Europe, the Caiamdrm (SfrpfcZiu) gnuunia, or 

 Cvrevfio graacrnu of Linnaeus, in its perfected 

 state is a slender beetle of a pitchy red colour, 

 about one-eighth of an inch long, with a slender 



snout slightly bent downwards, a coarsely punc- 

 tured and very long thorax, constituting almost 

 one-half the length of the whole body, and wing- 

 covers that are furrowed, and do not entirely 

 cover the tip of the abdomen. This little in- 

 sect, both in the beetle and grub state, devours 

 stored wheat and other grains, and often com- 

 mits much havoc in granaries and brew-bouses. 

 Its powers of multiplication are very great, for 

 it is stated that a single pair of these destroyers 

 may produce above six thousand descendants 

 in one year. The female deposits her eggs 

 upon the wheat after it is housed, and the 

 young grubs hatched therefrom immediately 

 burrow into the wheat, each individual occu- 

 pying alone a single grain, the substance of 

 which it devours, so as often to leave nothing 

 but the hull; and this destruction goes on 

 within, while no external appearance leads to 

 its discovery, and the loss of weight is the only 

 evidence of the mischief that has been done 

 to the grain. In due time the grubs undergo 

 their transformations, and come out of the 

 hulls, in the beetle state, to lay their eggs for 

 another brood. These insects are effectually 

 destroyed by kiln-drying the wheat; and grain, 

 that is kept cool, well ventilated, and is fre- 

 quently moved, is said to be exempt from at- 



"Another grain-weevil, hardly differing from 

 the foregoing except in its colour, which is 

 black, is found in New York. It is the Calam- 

 dra (StopfcZw) rcmatepunOata of Schonkert. 



